Hawaii: 50th State for 50 years

[dhermann1]

Today, according to the New York Times, is the 50th anniversary of Hawaiian statehood. Congratulations Hawaii!
I was stationed there for two wonderful years, 1967 to 1969, and have incredibly fond memories of the place. I saw Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane at the foot of Diamond Head, watched manta rays cavort in the surf at Kaena Point, watched Pearl Harbor being "bombed" as they filmed "Tora Tora Tora" and spent many happy hours on Waikiki Beach.
I explored to old part of Honolulu, where Sgt Striker knocked back a few beers, and saw the pipeline at Waimea when there were still hardly any people up on the north shore of Oahu.
I even spent an hour in a C-47 cruising in low slow circles over the Kilauea Crater on the Big Island.
Anyone else care to share impressions of Hawaii?

 

[MrBern]

I met Don Ho in 2001.
He was moved that anyone from NYC would travel so soon after 9//11.
And he told me a bit about seeing the Pearl Harbor attack when he was a boy.

Then we met a bunch of firemen from Brooklyn ta the Pearl Harbor commemorations. It was moving to see the surviving vets bond with they NYFD.
Heard a nice story from an old vet and his son. How he had broken up with his girl shortly before the attack. In the days or weeks after th attack, he decided to find her & marry. She didnt know if he had survived. They were married for about 59 years. She passed the summer before the 2001 anniversary. It was very touching.
Hawaii is a gorgeous locale.